Boomer
inside the Imulsion Factory Background Among the least sophisticated of the Locusts, Boomers are gigantic, obese, tougher and far less intelligent versions of the Locust Drones that can take a lot of damage. Like Wretches and unlike Drones, Boomers do not take cover and will rush straight into the most dangerous combat situations without a second thought. A Boomer's weapon of choice is the Boomshot (a sort of grenade/rocket launcher), which they will fire while habitually shouting "Boom!" (thus the 'Boomer' moniker) which acts as a warning for Gears to move out of the way. They also sometimes say "For the Queen!" (see Locust Queen) or "Die, hominid/groundwalker!" (slang terms the Locust use for humans). They are often seen partnered with other Boomers, but they do not use infantry tactics, instead they move forward slowly and fire their weapons. Any Gear who can use cover can defeat this type of Locust. Boomers are however incredibly tough, able to withstand 3 headshots from a Longshot on the Hardcore and Insane difficulties. It takes around 2 full magazines of Lancer to kill one, but it is far easier to just tag a grenade on one. They can be easily identified by the rumbling noises of their footsteps, the introductory lines: "Enemies" or "Ground Walker" and have the deepest of all known Locust voices so they can be easily spotted and engaged. Sometimes, Gears will announce "Boomer!" as another form of warning that one is in range. Appearances Boomers are first introduced in the chapter Tick Tick Boom of Act 2. They appear several other times throughout the campaign in the rest of Act 2, acts 3 and 4, and in Act 5 in the PC version. Game Strategies Facepaint Strategy There is a very simple tactic that the COG Gears use to defeat the Boomers who wield this weapon. The Gear is expected to take cover at the closest obstacle; blind fire is encouraged. The Boomer will usually fire after yelling "Boom!" After the Boomer has fired, the Gear should pop out of cover and open fire upon the Boomer's head. Once the magazine has exhausted or when the Boomer again cries "Boom!", the Gear is expected to take cover until the Boomer has fired and is reloading again. The Gear repeats this process until he makes a sloppy (at the same time fatal) mistake, the Boomer flushes the Gear out and kills him, or until the Boomer finally perishes. Weapons that are good for this strategy are the mid to long range weapons such as the Hammerburst and Longshot. The Lancer may also be useful, but isn't accurate at longer ranges. The Snub Pistol excels at placing a mag into their head. Boomer Closing In, No Problem If a Boomer advances on your position until cover is useless, retreat backwards while shooting the Boomer, if the Boomer yells Boom you should leap back and side to side to get out of the line of fire. Keep retreating until you can find sufficient cover to repeat the steps above. One other thing that has been noticed about Boomers is that they sometimes accidentally miss if you're too close to them. Simply move to the very edge of your cover point (where you can proceed to do rolls, swat turns, etc.). The Boomer will see you when he moves to the edge of the cover point and shoot, but sometimes for some reason he shoots the other side of the cover, leaving you completely unharmed. This will buy you some time to either finish him off (get a little farther first) or retreat to a better cover point. Close Range Strategies There are some close range tactics as well. One tactic is to run right up to a Boomer while he is reloading and shotgun him in the face as much as possible. Simply watch out for the Boomer's melee attack and you will be able to dispatch him safely. Another tactic to deal with Boomers consists of rushing close to them while they reload and tagging a grenade to their bodies. However, give yourself plenty of room to run back. As soon as he is tagged, roll back (to avoid the Boomer's melee) and run back far enough so you won't be taken out by the grenade as well. The grenade will then instantly kill the Boomer and damage other enemies nearby. Butcher boomers are the only Boomers that can be beaten easily with melee attacks. It will take several strikes to kill them, but due to the long delay between swings, you can hit, back away and hit again with out being sliced. Another close range strategy is to use the shotgun on the boomer, and it should kill: Butchers in three to four hits, Grinders in four to six hits, Maulers(when their shield is down) in three to five hits and Normal Boomers in three to five hits The Torque Bow Strategy |thumb|150px]] The final and safest strategy is to use the Torque Bow which will also neutralize a Boomer in a single shot on some difficulties, but a headshot is always a one hit kill. Just be sure that the Boomer is reloading (as always) and that there won't be any 'distractions' (other enemies) while you're charging and firing your Torque Bow.This strategy is ill-advised to be used by new players, as the aim mechanism can be somewhat confusing. Using its own Weapon Using the Boomshot against the Boomer is an excellent option being that only two shots are needed (on casual mode). And the boomer leaves behind a plenty amount of ammo for the player to use. Hammer of Dawn The Hammer of Dawn will take about four seconds to charge before exploding in a haze of blood. Mortar Launcher Upon firing an airborne Mortar near a Boomer, it will call out "Sky Fire!" and focus on running away. While they run, you can come out from behind cover and try to kill them. Sub-Types In Gears of War 2, 4 new sub-types of Boomer are introduced. Each has a different weapon at its disposal. *'Butcher' - Originally a non-combat variety of Boomer, they chop up meat for other Locust in The Hollow. In battle, they wield a large meat cleaver and charge enemies. *'Flame Boomer' - Equipped with a Scorcher flamethrower, these Boomers will close in before unleashing a torrent of flame in an attempt to fry humans. These can be easily neutralized by shooting the imulsion tanks on their back and once a flame starts popping out from one of the tanks, just wait a second and, bye-bye boomer. They usually say phrases similar to "No!" once the flame is ignited, indicating that they know that they're screwed. (These are the only type of Boomers that can go over cover unlike other Boomers) *'Grinder' - Armed with a Mulcher, these Boomers cry "Grind" just before firing. They are one of the toughest of the Boomer types as it takes almost three Lancer clips to take one down. They can "grind up" a gear by shooting him constantly for three to four seconds. *'Mauler' - Maulers are another close combat Boomer, equipped with an explosive flail and the Boomshield. This variant of Boomer usually charges enemies, then bludgeons them into submission, in other words, the flail knocks players over like a smoke grenade would. They also wear a helmet, making headshots less effective on them. *'Mechanic/Construction' - A class of Boomer that was cut from Gears of War 2, as revealed in the Limited Edition Bonus Disk. They would have wielded a large wrench and a cutting torch. *All Boomer variants have a tendency to cry what they will do before they attack, for example, the mauler yells "Crush!" As to pummel you with its flail, and the grinder yells... well "Grind." Although every Boomer has its own unique attack, all Boomers seem to yell "Charge!" When engaging or getting closer to the enemy. *No Boomer variant, except the Mauler, has a unique melee attack, if you get too close they will just give you a hard slap which stuns you like any other melee would. *The only Boomer that knows how to take any kind of cover is the Mauler, taking cover behind it's Boomsheild when too heavily damaged. *The two Boomer variants whose weapons cannot be obtained after killing them are the Mauler and the Butcher. When the Butcher is killed, you see its Cleaver on the floor, but you cannot pick it up, and when you kill a Mauler, its flail disappears, but you can pick up its Boomshield, which isn't a weapon so much as portable cover. =Trivia= *Boomers are possibly Drones that are born larger and bulkier. *All Boomer types tend to shout out words that indicate their combat specialty. Average Boomers shout out "Boom!", Grinders shout out "Grind!", Butchers shout out "Hunger!", Maulers shout out "Charge!", and Flame Boomers shout out "Burn!" *In the E3 08 Microsoft spotlight Gears of War 2 demo, it shows a new type of Boomer that will now carry a mini gun, now properly identified as Grinder Boomers. *Boomers ranked 5 out of five on the deadliest ranks of the Locust horde. *Boomers can also be seen breaking down the entrance to Adam Fenix's house after regrouping with Cole and Baird on the second story in Gears of War 1's Act 4 **The Boomer you hear roar carries a large batting ram that sparks at the tip. *When a Boomer succumbs to enough damage it will begin to wheeze, telling the player its near its own demise. =External links= * http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/GOW2/TheGame.htm#/enemies/Boomers * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSX9HFTcl8s&feature=related Category:Locust Horde